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duparker's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars. I really enjoy this era/style of spy novel. More mental action then brute force. You know there will be death, but it isn't the focus. Solid page turner. Great for an airplane.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
5.0
Len Deighton's ellilptical writing style meshes with the slow reveal in this story as well as the ultimate misdirection of the plot. In other words, I was surprised at the ending. Didn't see it coming. Put that along with Deighton's usual wit and oblique cultural references, and it all makes Spy Story one of his better efforts.
Despite the elliptical style, readers more attuned to the literal and step by step description of events will nonetheless find the footing secure. The plot is so steady and the characterization of Pat Armstrong so focused that it is difficult to be distracted by any minor, formal experimentation.
Speaking of Pat Armstrong, readers find out this is the name of the heretofore anonymous hero of the earlier spy books starting with The IPCRESS File. But don't get too excited. For it is also implied that this is an alias, a name adopted by the one time employee of the Secret Service who has now moved onto other things.
And am I the only one who saw a resemblance to Ice Station Zebra, the movie, I mean, as I've not read the book. To equate the lowbrow MacLean in any fashion with Deighton is sin enough, but to see similarities in the latter part of Spy Story seems downright shocking.
Despite the elliptical style, readers more attuned to the literal and step by step description of events will nonetheless find the footing secure. The plot is so steady and the characterization of Pat Armstrong so focused that it is difficult to be distracted by any minor, formal experimentation.
Speaking of Pat Armstrong, readers find out this is the name of the heretofore anonymous hero of the earlier spy books starting with The IPCRESS File. But don't get too excited. For it is also implied that this is an alias, a name adopted by the one time employee of the Secret Service who has now moved onto other things.
And am I the only one who saw a resemblance to Ice Station Zebra, the movie, I mean, as I've not read the book. To equate the lowbrow MacLean in any fashion with Deighton is sin enough, but to see similarities in the latter part of Spy Story seems downright shocking.
jeremyhornik's review against another edition
2.0
Picked up an ancient paperback from a little free library and read it over a few shelter-in-place nights. Is this story super disjointed or am I? I kept losing track of people and plot lines.
smcleish's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog here in May 2004.
After a sequence of novels which are each in some way different from everything else he had written, Spy Story is Len Deighton's return to basics. It could almost be another sequel to [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File|Len Deighton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1295903974s/171624.jpg|2155765] - it even shares several characters. (It is actually listed on Fantastic Fiction as one of the Harry Palmer novels, but the narrator is named, and isn't Palmer.)
Pat Armstrong, the narrator, works in wargaming, using the latest intelligence about Soviet military deployment with the help of what are now extremely primitive computers. When his car breaks down at night and he is unable to find a phone, he uses a key he still has to let himself into his old flat to make the call from there - only to find he has apparently continued to live there: and his family photos around the flat now show him with a slightly altered appearance. He is clearly at the centre of an elaborate plot of some kind, but the question is what, exactly?
This is by now familiar territory to readers of spy fiction - hence the throwaway title - but few writers have ever covered this ground as expertly as Deighton. The tone is bleaker than the earlier Harry Palmer novels, but then the optimistic sixties have long passed. There is still humour here, though; less of it and less obvious, but still present. For a thriller, there isn't a great deal of action and a lot of what there is happens off stage. Spy Story is more subtle than most spy thrillers; Deighton's interest isn't in staging stunts but in the relationships between agents of various types and the politics of the interactions between different agencies, British and American, which is perhaps a slight shift from his earlier writing in the genre. This is a chance to lie back and relish vintage Len Deighton, at a slightly slower pace.
After a sequence of novels which are each in some way different from everything else he had written, Spy Story is Len Deighton's return to basics. It could almost be another sequel to [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File|Len Deighton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1295903974s/171624.jpg|2155765] - it even shares several characters. (It is actually listed on Fantastic Fiction as one of the Harry Palmer novels, but the narrator is named, and isn't Palmer.)
Pat Armstrong, the narrator, works in wargaming, using the latest intelligence about Soviet military deployment with the help of what are now extremely primitive computers. When his car breaks down at night and he is unable to find a phone, he uses a key he still has to let himself into his old flat to make the call from there - only to find he has apparently continued to live there: and his family photos around the flat now show him with a slightly altered appearance. He is clearly at the centre of an elaborate plot of some kind, but the question is what, exactly?
This is by now familiar territory to readers of spy fiction - hence the throwaway title - but few writers have ever covered this ground as expertly as Deighton. The tone is bleaker than the earlier Harry Palmer novels, but then the optimistic sixties have long passed. There is still humour here, though; less of it and less obvious, but still present. For a thriller, there isn't a great deal of action and a lot of what there is happens off stage. Spy Story is more subtle than most spy thrillers; Deighton's interest isn't in staging stunts but in the relationships between agents of various types and the politics of the interactions between different agencies, British and American, which is perhaps a slight shift from his earlier writing in the genre. This is a chance to lie back and relish vintage Len Deighton, at a slightly slower pace.
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